A Horse Protects His King
by namashe
Summary: Hichigo, why would you save me?" "Because a horse protects his king" one shot


Ichigo stopped to catch his breath. That last arrancar had been easier than Dordonii had been but it still took ban-kai to beat him. He was just glad Nel had gotten reunited with her friends Peshe and Donchaka. Hopefully they were out of Los Noches by now.

Looking down the huge hallway he was going down he started to feel uneasy. Gripping the hilt of Tensa Zangetsu, he started forward again.

"So you are the famous ryoka that broke into soul society." An emotionless voice said behind.

Spinning around he saw a familiar arrancar, from where he wasn't sure. Ichigo knew he had seen those emotionless emerald eyes before.

"In the human world you looked like you had a lot of potential but I am not so sure now." He continued.

A memory flashed threw Ichigo's brain.

_A large crater smoked in the middle Karakura Park. Two arrancars stood at the edge of the crater, Chad was bleeding on the ground in front of them. Orihime was trying desperately to hold them off and heal Chad at the same time._

"Ulquiorra." "_Damn, I don't think I can take on an espada right now."_ He thought.

They stared at each other before Ichigo turned around and continued down the path that he had been going.

"Aren't you going to fight me? I am an enemy aren't I?" The emotionless arrancar asked.

Ichigo stopped but didn't turn around. "I have no reason to fight you so I won't."

"What if told you that I'm the one who took your princess away?"

Ichigo felt himself stiffen. This basterd was the reason Orihime was gone and why everyone thought she was a traitor?! He felt his anger rising.

Turning around he shouted, "Getsuga Tenshou!"

The wave of black and red energy shot straight at the arrancar. The espada raised his hand and effortlessly redirected it. It smashed into a pillar to the left of him.

"_He didn't even get a scratch." _Ichigo stared at him in shock. He had put as much as he could into that attack with out his hollow mask and the arrancar had swatted it away like it was nothing.

"Was that your full power? Disappointing." Ulquiorra reached for his sword.

"Trash must be eliminated before it can dirty the halls of Los Noches." He said as he unsheathed his sword.

Ichigo felt a stab of fear. His hollow started to shout about wanting to be let out. Gather some of his reistu, Ichigo used it suppress his hollow. In a last ditch effort to get out the hollow used most of it's energy to gain control before being smothered by Ichigo's reistu. He wasn't going to use his mask until he really needed to.

Without warning Ulquiorra sonidod towards him and Ichigo barely had time to block arrancar's sword with his own. Ulquiorra easily pushed him back several feet with a swing from his sword.

"_Shit!"_

*Ichigo's inner world*

* * *

"Goddamn it king! Let me out!" Hichigo screamed angrily at the sky.

As soon as he felt the enemy's reistu he knew king wouldn't be able to beat him on his own. But the retard was still going to try and fight the opponent on his own, the idiot! Damn, he was going to get them both killed!

"Ya idiot! When I get out ta here I'm gonna beat yur ass! Let me out NOW!" His screams gained no response.

He turned towards Zangetsu, who stood on his pole, looking stoic as ever.

"Don't just stand there! Make 'im let me out!" He shouted at the zanpaktou spirit.

Suddenly he felt king's reistu trying to suppress him.

He snarled. _"Oh no ya don't!"_

He gathered most of his reistu together and pushed back with it as hard as could. Suddenly everything went black and he felt himself being pulled backwards by a large amount of force. The back of his head slammed into something hard.

He rubbed the back of his head. Opening his eyes, he looked around and was surprised at what he saw.

White stone walls and floors stretched out in a large hallway in front of him. Looking behind him he saw had slammed his head against a wall.

Where the hell was he? It defiantly wasn't anywhere in king's inner world. The sound of swords clashing together distracted him from his confusion.

Looking towards the sound (which had come from above him) he saw king and his opponent fighting. King was defiantly on the losing end of the fight. He was barely able to dodge the enemy's attacks let alone attack him back.

Hissing, Hichigo reached for the inverted Zangetsu on his back only to realize it wasn't there. What the hell? How was he suppost to fight?

He heard king cry out in surprise and pain. Looking up he saw king fall to the ground and land on back with a loud crash. His opponent landed in front of him, raising his sword to strike.

"_Shit! He's not gonna be able to dodge it time!"_ He thought.

He shunpoed forward.

* * *

*Los Noches hallway*

Ichigo's breathing was getting heavy from the constant dodging and blocking. He could barely get his sword up in time to block each of the espada's swings.

He needed to summon his mask but he couldn't find an opening.

"_Damn it!"_ He thought desperately.

Another swing from Ulquiorra sent him back several feet.

There! He was far enough away that he could pull out his mask. Reaching his hand to his face he started to summon his mask. Suddenly Ulquiorra appeared in front of him and he felt siring line of pain run across his chest.

The force of the blow sent him flying towards the ground, spider web cracks appeared around the spot were he had landed on his back. Tensa Zangetsu skittered a few feet away out of his reach.

He shook his head to clear away the daze when he realized Ulquiorra was standing in front of him. His eyes widened as the espada raised his sword.

"_Oh shit!"_ He sword was out of reach and he didn't have time to dodge or summon his mask. He was screwed.

Ichigo closed his eyes against the impending strike.

The sound of a sword striking flesh met Ichigo's ears. He felt something warm drip onto his chest. But wear was the pain?

He slowly opened his eyes and what he saw shocked and confused him.

Someone wearing white stood between him and Ulquiorra, although a good three inches of the espada's blade was poking through his back. Then he saw the hair, that unmistakable pure white hair.

"Hichigo… How did … Why did you…?" Ichigo stuttered as looked at his hollows back.

His hollow looked over his shoulder at Ichigo and smirked.

"A horse has ta protect his king."

At this point Ulquiorra pulled his sword out of Hichigo's chest. Hichigo fell to his knees, the sword was apparently the hollow's only mean of support.

"Hichigo!" Ichigo reached out to keep his hollow from falling on to his face.

* * *

*Hichigo's POV*

He felt strong hands grab his shoulders to keep him from falling forward. He felt himself be lowered gentle onto the stone floor. King's worried face hovered above him.

"Hichigo, why would you save me?" King asked looking confused.

Hichigo snorted in annoyance. "I told ya, if you die I die too. Besides I'm the only one allowed to kill ya."

He noticed the damned arrancar that had run him through had disappeared.

The front of his inverted shinigami uniform felt sticky, it was starting to get annoying. He could still fell blood coming out of his wound. Why wasn't it healing? His regenerative powers should have healed it by now.

"Your going to be alright, aren't you?" The worry in king's voice surprised him. Looking up at king he saw worry in his chocolate eyes. Why did he care?

Before he could answer he started to cough. The iron like taste of blood was on his tongue. King watched him worriedly.

Damn, he must of used up all of his energy getting out of king's inner world, that would also explain him not having his sword.

"Don't know king. Guess I used to much energy gettin outta yur thick skull."

King opened his mouth to say something then closed it again. A small tear rolled down the side of his cheek.

"Damn it king. Don't cry, it makes ya look weak." Hichigo reached up to wipe away the tear.

His hand was only a few inches away from king's face when it started to disintegrate and fade away. Shit, he was already out of time.

He started to push himself up, his hand almost completely gone.

King tried to keep him lying down. "Wait! You'll only die faster if you move!"

"I'm gonna die anyway king, so I if hafta die I'm gonna do it on my feet." He got to his feet with difficult since his entire arm was gone.

He took a few steps forward and felt the disintegration speed up. At this rate he only had a few moments before he completely faded away. He turned around and smirked sadly at king who was still kneeling on the ground. King stared back him with wide eyes.

"See ya around, King." He said before he completely disappeared, leaving Ichigo all alone in the hallway of Los Noches.

* * *

**_-AUHTOR'SNOTE-_**

I just reread that and realized how sad it was! T.T

i had some snow days so i started to write a couple of one shots and this is the first one i got done. i should write a funny one after all the sad stuff i've been writing.


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